Ice floater for facilitating ice-freezing on water surface

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is an ice floater for facilitating ice freezing on the water surface. More specifically, disclosed is an ice floater for facilitating ice freezing on the water surface made of a naturally degradable resin that prevents mixing and convection of seawater cooled on the surface with not-cooled water, when floating on the water surface and thereby facilitates formation of ice on the seawater surface. Once ice sheets are formed, fallen snow particles and water particles broken by waves are accumulated as ice on the water surface and thus naturally continue to growth.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an ice floater for facilitating ice-freezing on the water surface, and more particularly to an ice floater made of vinyl for facilitating ice-freezing, which facilitates ice formation when floating on the surface of water. Water surface is most often not frozen even in atmospheric and water temperatures of about 0° C. In this case, ice freezing is facilitated, when an ice floater floats on the water surface. An effect of heating caused by convection of water on precipitations, such as snow and rain particles, fallen on the ice floater, water particles broken by waves and artificially made water particles are minimized and ice freezing is considerably accelerated, as compared to a natural case. Once ice is formed, the ice reflects a great amount of solar heat, further decreases a neighboring temperature, absorbs neighboring water ions and is spontaneously grown, thus obtaining a great amount of ice, as compared to the natural case. This ice melts in spring of the next year and prevents an increase in water temperature and thus functions to protect neighboring ices for a long period of time.

2. Description of the Related Art

Because of global warming, the thawing of sea ice is accelerating in the polar regions. As a result, ice sheets and glaciers are excessively melted and thus threaten safety of the earth and ecosystems in the polar regions. There are a variety of geoengineering fields to solve these problems associated with global warming. However, geoengineering does not have actual effects due to problems such as cost and side effects.

Meanwhile, ice which covers the North Pole in winter is frozen before fresh water which flows from continents such as Russia is mixed with seawater, or is formed by formation of an ice sheet by snow falling on the seawater surface and then accumulation of snow on the surface thereof. Accordingly, ice sheets are formed in relatively early in the sea close to continents, while ice sheets are formed late in the sea far from the continents. That is, unless temperatures are considerably low or ice sheets are formed by intense snow, fallen snow is entirely absorbed in the sea and the ice far from the sea is thus not frozen to a high thickness.

There are many reasons for slow freezing at the water surface. Of these, convection of water is the major cause. Seawater has a maximum freezing point of −3.5° C. When the seawater surface is cooled to a temperature below zero, cold seawater sinks to the bottom of the sea, while warm seawater goes up from the bottom of the sea and replaces the cold seawater. As a result, the seawater is not frozen. Seawater freezes sequentially from the bottom of the sea to the top thereof. However, although air is cool, it is not enough to freeze seawater with the air due to deepness of the sea and great amount of water.

However, actually, a mean seawater surface temperature of the Arctic Ocean is continuously below zero from November to May in the next year. Also, ice is thickest in March. As described above, regions and periods in which ice sheets are not formed are present, although both water temperature and air temperature are below zero. When small ice sheets are artificially formed in these regions, the ice sheets can be formed early as compared to natural ice formation. As a result, maintenance period of ice sheets is lengthened and the artificial ice formation method enables formation of much wider and thicker ice sheets than the natural ice formation method.

The formed wider and thicker ice sheets continuously reflect solar heat until they are frozen, preventing an increase in temperature of the earth. In particular, the wider and thicker ice sheets decrease neighboring water and air temperatures during thawing of ice in summer and thereby prevent freezing of ice sheets and glaciers.

Meanwhile, there are cases requiring attempts to facilitate ice-freezing in the inland water surface. The safety and period lengthening of events can be realized by more rapidly securing ice for a variety of events using ice (Masou salmon festival, smelt festival or the like in Gangwon-do). In addition, winter roads using ice sheets can be more rapidly secured and use period thereof can thus be lengthened.

As methods for facilitating formation of ice on the surface of the sea, Korean Patent Application No. 2009-0072310 entitled “Apparatus and method for accumulating ice in the sea”, and Korean Patent Application No. 2010-0097532 entitled “Apparatus and method for artificially forming ice on the water surface” were suggested. An apparatus for facilitating ice-freezing of fresh water is disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 2010-0097531 entitled “Apparatus for facilitating natural ice-freezing and delaying ice-thawing”.

Korean Patent Application No. 2009-0072310 entitled “Apparatus and method for accumulating ice in the sea” has problems of inapplicability of the apparatus under an environment of severe waves and great difficulties of practical application due to disadvantages of continuous supply of power and high cost.

Korean Patent Application No. 2010-0097532 entitled “Apparatus and method for artificially forming ice on the water surface” has problems of great difficulties of practical application due to disadvantages of continuous supply of power and high cost.

Korean Patent Application No. 2010-0097531 entitled “Apparatus for facilitating natural ice-freezing and delaying ice-thawing” generally uses valleys, inclined water streams and cool atmosphere, thus being disadvantageously unsuitable for use in the sea.

RELATED ART Patent document

-   (Patent document 1) Document 1. Korean Patent Application No.     2009-0072310 (Apparatus and method for accumulating ice in the sea) -   (Patent document 2) Document 2. Korean Patent Application No.     2010-0097532 (Apparatus and method for artificially forming ice on     the water surface) -   (Patent document 3) Document 3. Korean Patent Application No.     2010-0097531 (Apparatus for facilitating natural ice-freezing and     delaying ice-thawing)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to freeze naturally-occurring ice as early as possible in winter and thus realize freezing of a great amount of ice.

Because of global warming, sea ice rapidly thaws in the polar regions, thus threatening ecosystems and global nature. The present invention prevents sea ice from melting and thereby blocks global warming and disruption of ecosystems. Also, it is another object of the present invention to obtain various effects such as realization of leisure activities, acquisition of traffic roads, generation of tidal currents, and preservation of water quality in the inland water surface. It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for facilitating ice-freezing while minimizing artificial energy and being almost not affected by convection of waves, wind and water.

The ice floater for facilitating ice freezing on the water surface according to the present invention is developed, based on an idea that ice sheets can be formed on the seawater surface only by preventing seawater cooled on the sea surface from being settled at the bottom of the sea, when both a seawater temperature and an atmospheric temperature are below zero. The ice floater utilizes an idea that ice freezing can be accelerated by separating water cooled by the ice floater from non-cooled water in spite of high wind and flow speeds even on the inland water surface. Also, the ice floater utilizes an idea that, once ice is formed, the ice reflects a great amount of solar heat and formation of ice is accelerated.

In accordance with the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of an ice floater for facilitating ice freezing on the water surface including: an air tube provided along an inner diameter thereof with a hollow to supply air to the ice floater and enable the ice floater to float; and a vinyl sheet connected to the bottom of the air tube such that the air tube is disposed at an outer side thereof to provide an accretion area of ice.

The air tube may be disposed at the peripheral end of the vinyl sheet and have a circular, tetragonal or triangular shape.

The vinyl sheet may include a protrusion having a triangular, tetragonal or semi-circular shape disposed at the top thereof to enable the ice to be settled and adhered to the bottom of the ice.

The air tube and the vinyl sheet may be made of a biodegradable resin containing a corn starch powder or polylactic acid (PLA) and are fed to fish when degraded.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an ice floater according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating a mounting state of the ice floater according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view illustrating an application state of the ice floater according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view illustrating an ice floater according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating a tetragonal ice floater according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a plan view illustrating a triangular ice floater according to the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a plan view illustrating a pentagonal ice floater according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the annexed drawings. In the description of various embodiments and representation of reference numerals in respective drawings, like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an ice floater according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating a mounting state of the ice floater according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a sectional view illustrating an application state of the ice floater according to the embodiment.

The ice floater 50 has a circular shape and includes an air tube 10 to float the ice floater 50 in water through air injected into the air tube 10 through a hollow 30 formed in an inner diameter along the outer diameter of the circle, and a vinyl sheet 20 connected to the bottom of the air tube 10 to continuously float the ice floater 50 in water.

After ice freezes on the vinyl sheet 20, water drops produced by waves, ice 40 formed of fallen snow or rain is accumulated on the ice. Water ions are absorbed at the bottom of the vinyl sheet 20 and ice is thus continuously grown, when an atmospheric temperature is lower than a water temperature. Meanwhile, the ice floater 50, the vinyl sheet 20, the air tube 10 and the like need to be used and may thus be wasted after formation of the ice sheets.

The ice floater 50 is preferably made of a biodegradable vinyl material and the biodegradable vinyl material, is more preferably a biodegradable resin made of pure corn starch, since the biodegradable resin is fed to fish when degraded and does not cause environmental pollution.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view illustrating an ice floater according to another embodiment of the present invention. The ice floater 50 includes a protrusion 21 formed on the top of a vinyl sheet 20 connected to an air tube 10 provided with a hollow 30 disposed at the edge thereof, to prevent mixing of water present inside the ice floater 50 with exterior water and thereby facilitate ice-freezing.

The protrusion 21 may protrude in various shapes such as triangular, tetragonal and semi-circular shapes and a plurality of protrusions are preferably spaced from one another by a predetermined distance.

FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating a tetragonal ice floater according to the present invention. The ice floater may be applied to other embodiments and comprise a tetragonal ice floater 51 comprising an air tube 10 provided with a vinyl sheet 20 containing ice frozen therein.

FIG. 6 is a plan view illustrating a triangular ice floater according to the present invention. The ice floater may be applied to other embodiments and comprise a triangular ice floater 52 comprising an air tube 10 provided with a vinyl sheet 20 containing ice frozen therein.

FIG. 7 is a plan view illustrating a pentagonal ice floater according to the present invention. The ice floater may be applied to other embodiments and comprise a pentagonal ice floater 53 comprising an air tube 10 provided with a vinyl sheet 20 containing ice frozen therein.

Operation and configuration of the ice floater according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

The present invention provides the ice floater 50 that includes an air tube 10 having a hollow 30 in an inner diameter at the periphery thereof and a vinyl sheet 20 connected to an inner portion of the air tube 10, and the ice floater 50 is floated on the cool sea at a temperature below zero after air is blown into the hollow 30 of the air tube 10.

The sea is not frozen for a long period of time at an atmospheric temperature below zero and at a water temperature below zero. For this period, while the ice floater 50 floats in the sea, water drops of the ice floater 50 broken by waves are accumulated in the vinyl sheet 20 provided in the air tube 10 and begin forming ice and seawater and sea snow are deposited and frozen on the vinyl sheet 20 provided in the air tube 10. Once the ice 40 is formed, both snow and rain fallen on the ice 40 are converted into ice and are neither melted nor absorbed in the seawater.

Fresh water ions in seawater that contact the bottom of the vinyl sheet 20 are frozen and at the same time, are adhered to the ice 40 formed by the ice floater 50. Then, ice is continuously grown.

The continuously grown ice reflects 80 to 90% of sunlight. These ice reflect even more heat than water having a low reflectivity of 8%, further decreases the environmental atmospheric temperature and thereby continuously increases an ice area.

The ice thus formed continues to grow in winter and are melted in spring. While this ice melts, neighboring seawater temperature does not rise to a temperature above zero. Accordingly, melt speeds of ice shelves or icebergs can be decreased.

When the ice 40 formed by the ice floater 50 is melted and removed, the ice floater 50 floating in the sea is naturally degraded and is fed to fish, thus advantageously further increasing fish resources and being eco-friendly, since it is made of a corn starch powder. The ice floater 50 is preferably made of a biodegradable resin such as polylactic acid (PLA) in addition to the corn starch powder.

Meanwhile, the ice floater 50 includes a protrusion 21 formed on the top of a vinyl sheet 20 connected to an air tube 10 provided with a hollow 30 at the edge thereof to increase a surface area and thereby prevent breakage of ice by waves, and enhance formation and storage stability of the ice 40. The protrusion 21 protrudes in various shapes such as triangular, tetragonal and semi-circular shapes and a plurality of protrusions are preferably spaced from one another by a predetermined distance.

Instead of the ice floater 50, various shapes of ice floaters, such as a tetragonal ice floater 51 comprising an air tube 10 provided with a vinyl sheet 20 containing ice frozen therein, as shown in FIG. 5, a triangular ice floater 52 comprising an air tube 10 provided with a vinyl sheet 20 containing ice frozen therein, as shown in FIG. 6, and a pentagonal ice floater 53 comprising an air tube 10 provided with a vinyl sheet 20 containing ice frozen therein, as shown in FIG. 7, may be used.

As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides an ice floater made of biodegradable corn starch or polylactic acid (PLA). After air is injected into an air tube provided in the ice floater, the ice floater floats on the water surface at a temperature below zero, fallen snow particles and water particles broken by waves are frozen on the water surface and ice then naturally forms. As a result, an even greater amount of ice can be formed on the surface of the sea and fresh water, as general cases. This ice is effective in protection of ecosystems, inhibition of global warming and the like. Also, effects associated with the inland water surface, such as early acquisition and increased safety of winter traffic roads, increase in periods of winter festivals (Masou salmon festival, smelt festival, or ice festival), inhibition in generation of tidal currents and protection of water pollution, can be obtained.

As described above, the present invention provides an ice floater which floats on the sea surface to prevent seawater cooled at atmospheric and water temperatures below zero, from being settled and convected to the bottom of the sea and thereby facilitate formation of ice. Also, water drops broken by waves are adhered to the ice floater and then frozen thereon. Once the ice is formed, both snow and rain fallen on the ice are converted into ice (absorbed in seawater if ice sheets are not present), freshwater ions in the seawater are adhered to ice sheets and ice is further formed. The ice sheets reflect 80 to 90% of sunlight which is an even more amount than water having a low reflectivity of 8%. For this reason, further decrease in atmospheric temperature and thus increase in ice area are repeated. As a result, positive feedback occurs. Ice is formed on the cool sea surface in the Arctic Ocean one month earlier than general ice formation seasons and is then naturally grown. As compared to cases no using the ice floater, a considerably greater amount of ice is naturally formed and an ice area on the sea surface thus increases. The increased ice area reflects a great amount of sunlight and directly inhibits global warming. The increased ice area reduces an ice thawing speed in the next year. Accordingly, an increase in atmospheric temperature and ecosystem destruction caused by global warming can be prevented. Also, the decrease in ice area disadvantageously causes survival of endangered polar bears using artificial ice streams. When this attempt is made in a variety of sea surfaces, it can prevent an increase in greenhouse gases, but can promptly reduce an increase in atmospheric temperature caused by greenhouse gases, thus being effective in protection of the ecosystem.

This technique may be applied to freshwater. The ice floater inhibits heat exchange between upper and lower parts in spite of high wind and flow speeds, thus being effective in facilitating formation of ice sheets in the upper part. Based on this effect, first, the ice floater may be utilized in industrial and military applications due to early acquisition of steel traffic roads and safety realization of steel traffic roads. Second, water stored in a frozen state is effective in reducing the risk of water pollution. Third, when ice melts in the summer, water temperature is decreased and propagation of tidal currents is thus inhibited.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An ice floater for facilitating ice freezing on the water surface comprising: an air tube provided along an inner diameter thereof with a hollow to supply air to the ice floater and enable the ice floater to float; and a vinyl sheet connected to the bottom of the air tube such that the air tube is disposed at an outer side thereof to provide an accretion area of ice and to enable the ice floater to float in the water.
 2. The ice floater according to claim 1, wherein the air tube is disposed at the peripheral end of the vinyl sheet and has a circular, tetragonal or triangular shape.
 3. The ice floater according to claim 1, wherein the vinyl sheet comprises a protrusion having a triangular, tetragonal or semi-circular shape disposed at the top thereof to enable the ice to be settled and adhered to the bottom of the ice.
 4. The ice floater according to claim 1, wherein the air tube and the vinyl sheet are made of a biodegradable resin containing a corn starch powder or polylactic acid (PLA) and are fed to fish when degraded. 